Out now, A.O. Gerber shares new album Meet Me at the Gloaming via Hand In Hive/Father Daughter Records. Here, she carefully grapples with the constraints she was taught as a child to reach for the flourishing that comes when we look past the black and white, and into the gray gauze of the in-between. By interlocking memory and imagination, Gerber crafts a gleaming future, where the light and the dark don’t just coexist––they create a new color entirely.
The album includes singles ‘Only Mystery’, ‘For’, ‘Hunger’, and ‘Looking For The Right Things’, all of which come with beautifully thought out cinematic videos.
Meet Me at the Gloaming is certainly an album that pierces grief head-on but it’s not without hope or certainty. Like curtains strong enough to block the view, but thin enough to let in the light, Gerber is reclaiming the meaning of goodness, where the harsh overwhelming brightness is dimmed to a beautiful, iridescent blue. During the gloaming we are between two spaces, two worlds, two selves and it’s here that we can fully embrace everything that we are.
We had a chat with Gerber all about the making of the record, her experiences in the music industry, upcoming shows and more. Read the Q&A below.
Hi! How are you? What does a typical day look like for you right now?
“My days are a bit all over the place! I work quite a few different jobs on top of music, so every day is a bit different and always very busy. No matter what though my mornings always start with walking my dog and drinking coffee on my porch while I journal or read.”
You’ve just released your new album Meet Me at the Gloaming. What can you tell us about the LP? Where/what/who did you draw inspiration from around the time of writing it and what do you hope listeners take away from it?
“I don’t really know I’m writing a record until it’s happened, but the songs are always a snapshot of a time and what I’m thinking about or working through then. Most of these songs were written during a time in which I was reflecting on my childhood and allowing myself to grieve certain experiences I never fully allowed myself to. I felt confronted with the ways in which I’ve tried to oversimplify my own narrative for myself, and what a disservice that is. I was interested in learning to sit with complexity — that no experience is either all good or all bad, that no person is all right or all wrong. The music came out of that place and I hope in listening to it, people feel invited to consider those themes in their own livees.”
What was the creative process for MMATG like? We understand you worked with Madeline Kenney again. Did you do anything differently this time around? What did you love most about it? Were there any challenges?
“My first record was recorded over three years at a ton of different studios and felt like such a never-ending process. I was determined to work in a more focused way for my second record when the time came. But then the pandemic hit and it didn’t seem possible to do it as I’d imagined. There was no safe or affordable way to get a bunch of collaborators in a room together for a couple weeks. At the same time, I was writing a bunch of really different music, music I wasn’t sure was any good. Writing felt challenging and slow. But in late 2020 I had amassed so many songs and started feeling scared that I was going to wait until who knows when the pandemic would end to record and by that time all of the love I had for some of the songs (especially ones that had been written pre-pandemic) would be gone. Around that time, Madeline had finished putting together a home studio and offered that I could come down any time to record some demos. She said it could be casual and fun, just an exercise to play music with people again after so much time away. I went down with that attitude and left with the essential tracks for all of these songs that I suddenly realized could be a record. And then I finished them up working from home and having other friends record remotely.”
What has your experience in the music industry been like? Do you have any words of wisdom to pass on to artists just starting out?
“Oh what a tricky question. I’ll say that this is a tough industry, and the huge imbalance of resources and the many injustices that permeate the industry can make it feel really extractive. So at the end of the day, it feels the best when I feel in it for the love. And it’s very easy for that love to get tainted if you follow the wrong things. My favorite memories aren’t the biggest or most prestigious shows I’ve played. It’s the ones where I got to play music I really loved with people I really loved. It always comes down to that.”
Finally, what else is next for you? We see you have a few dates coming up over here in the UK in November. What do you love about the UK and what can we expect from an A.O. Gerber live performance?
“I haven’t spent a ton of time in the UK, but the time I have spent has been really welcoming. The UK shows will be solo, so really personal and intimate. I’m excited to play these songs close to how they were written.”
